KIDS CARE Policies and Guidelines
Please contact the Camp Fire office at 842-8787 option 6, or email programming@campfireabq.org to receive a Parent handbook.Signing-In, Signing Out, and Reporting Absences
To ensure children's safety, we have strict rules about signing in, signing out, and reporting absences:
- Parents, or their authorized agents, must escort their children into program area and sign children in each morning.
- Parents or authorized agents must sign their children out when they pick them up in the afternoon, and when they remove them early or temporarily from the Child Care program (for example, for a doctor's appointment).
- Parents must provide a signed release form if they want their children to attend regular non-Camp Fire USA activities during program hours (for example, school-based club meetings, activities, counseling programs, etc.).
- Parents must call the Camp Fire USA office at 842-8787--Option #5 if their children will be absent from Camp Fire.
- All Camp Fire programs close promptly at 6:00 pm. All children must be picked-up before 6:00 pm. Parents arriving after 6:00 pm will be assessed a late fee of $10 for every 15 minutes after 6:00 pm or any portion thereof, per child. The police will be contacted for children left at Camp Fire after 7:00 pm. Parents who do not pick-up their children by 7:00 pm will be suspended from the program. Parents who are repeatedly late will be asked to find alternative care.
Anyone who picks up a child from Camp Fire may be asked to show a picture identification.
Snow Days
Weather conditions occasionally require that school districts modify school schedules. Because Camp Fire programs occupy school facilities, we too may have to alter our program schedules. Poor weather conditions can result in abbreviated days, with school starting two hours late. On these days, Camp Fire USA programs begin at 8:00 am and continue until school starts. If the school district cancels school entirely after children have been left at Camp Fire, parents will be contacted to pick up their children within an hour of notification. Inclement weather may prevent schools from opening at all. Under these circumstances, there will be no Camp Fire USA programs at school sites.
Behavior Guidelines
Camp Fire USA staff provide clear guidelines and limits for children's behavior. Staff will use positive techniques, discussion, reinforcement, encouragement and redirection, and clear consistent rules to create a safe, productive environment where children can play, learn, and grow. Staff encourage children to work together to solve conflicts. In some situations, brief, supervised separation from the group or other logical consequences may be appropriate.
Camp Fire USA staff do their best to work with all children. However, if a child's behavior endangers him- or herself, other children or staff, or causes damage to equipment or facilities, the child's parents may be asked to seek alternative care. Parents are generally held responsible for the consequences of their children's behavior.